Two Of a Kind
by Rara-Lady of Chaos
Summary: I was never like other Earth ponies. I said things that made them say "Why?" and did things that made them say "How?". But it was never a problem...until I got my cutie mark. Later, I met him, and he showed me how to do things I would never have been able to do on my own. The only thing he couldn't give me was an explanation why.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I remember it well. It was a day like any other, until IT happened. My mother sat sipping her tea on the back porch as she often does on her days off from work. Which was very few considering she was the CEO and founder of Everypony's Toys©. She had a light brown body, a yellow wavy mane and tail, and green eyes. She was a kind and playful unicorn despite being a businessmare. The kind of mare I wish she would have remained. It was no surprise to anypony when they found out I was her kid.

I was never the most ordinary filly of the bunch. I would say things that made them say "Why?", and did things say "How?". From the start, I knew that I was not like other fillies and colts my age. My mother knew as well, but she never suppressed my ways. Heck, she encouraged them. She would always tell me to be who I was, that it didn't matter what anypony thought of me. The only opinion that mattered was my own. At least, she did. Which brings me to the most joyous, and most horrible day of my life.

I was playing in the backyard of my mansion in Canterlot. From afar, a pony would assume that I was just playing with dolls like most fillies my age, but they would only be half right. True, I was playing with dolls, but not like other fillies. I dressed my dolls in the most outrageous outfits I could imagine, and I'd have them act out scenarios that only I would be able to conjure up.

"Why Lady Lady, it appears your hat has become a live peacock!" I said with the most "high class" accent I could think of. I looked over at my mother and saw her smiling at my antics. Little did I know that would be her last smile at me for years to come.

I continued the scene to see if I could get a laugh out of her. "Hmm, we'll so it has. Well, not much I can do about that. Do you think it will be a good present for my second niece on my great aunt's husband's side three times removed?" I asked with a thick Manehattan accent. I never got the chance to answer my own question when the ground shook.

"EARTHQUAKE!" I heard my mother yell. I got scared and galloped to her. She grabbed me and we both took shelter under the metal table she had once sat so comfortably in a few moments before. I closed my eyes and strongly embraced her. I felt what seemed to be a wave of energy pass by us. It left me a ticklish feeling.

Then the shaking stopped.

I opened my eyes to find the most amazing thing I had ever seen. The world around us had changed drastically. The ground had become checkered with several colors, the buildings had risen from there place and were now floating, some even upside down, many of the local animals seemed to have mutated, and the greatest of all, the clouds had become pink and were raining chocolate milk on our neighbors.

A wide smile appeared on my face, and I galloped out of my mother's grasp. I jumped around not questioning why everything looked the way they did. All I knew was that I liked it. It was mid-day when the sun lowered and the moon arose. I thought that I had been out there longer than expected, until the sun rose again a few minutes later.

I played in that wonderland for hours. It was that afternoon when it happened. One of the pink clouds had lowered itself to the ground, heavy with chocolate milk.

As a filly, I never really liked the color pink all that much. My favorite color was purple. The same as my body; a light shade. It contrasted perfectly with my long, straight, vibrant green mane and tail, and forest green eyes.

I imagined what the cloud would look like if it were purple. I continued to look at it until I realized something. The cloud had become a pale purple. I stared at it wondering what had done it. It couldn't have been me; only unicorns like mother could do magic. I started to think of what it would look like blue, and as if the cloud was reading my mind, it turned blue. I realized I had to have been the one to make it change. I thought that if I was able to perform magic in that wonderland, others must have too. I didn't know how wrong I was.

I began to change everything around me from houses to statues. I wanted it to stay this way forever. I was having the best time of my life in my wonderland, until I saw her. I had completely forgotten that I had left underneath that table. There stood my mother, looking at me with fear in her eyes. I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked back at her. "What's wrong mommy?" I asked her with concern. She didn't respond right away which made me even more worried.

"Rara…" she paused and looked down at my flank, letting out a gasp. I followed her stare and let out a gasp myself. On my flank was a picture of a purple and red plaid flame with thin pink and green energy beams surrounding it. I smiled the widest smile I've ever made and jumped around my mother. I finally had my cutie mark. With it came the knowledge of my destiny. I was meant to share the chaotic joy I had felt earlier that day with everypony in Equestria. I looked back at her expecting to see a face just as excited as my own, but when I glanced at her face all I saw were tears.

"Mommy?" I got no response. "Mommy?" I repeated. Still no response. Her sadness was slowly infecting me. I lost focus on my surroundings and concentrated on my mother. Unaware to myself, the wonderland had begun to disappear and was replaced by normal, old Canterlot. I was about to call her out again when she finally spoke up.

"Go to the house," she said, her voice trembling as she spoke.

"What?" why is she acting like this? What happened? I thought she would be happy when I got my cutie mark.

"Go to the house!" her voice had a mixer of sadness and anger that I couldn't explain. Frightened by her, I galloped home. I was still confused over why she was acting this way. What happened in the time I had left her side? I haven't heard her use that tone since…I didn't dare compete that thought, it held too many emotions.

I found out years later that my wonderland had been created by the draconiquus Discord, The Lord of Chaos, who had broken free from his stone imprisonment of a thousand years. I had also learned that I had kept Canterlot in its chaotic state over an hour after Discord's re-imprisonment. Nopony except me could change that wonderland because I had what nopony else could ever possess, chaotic magic. But that doesn't make sense, I'm an Earth pony, why...how do I have these abilities? And what had my mother done in the hours I spent playing in my wonderland? These questions have remained with me for years.

Ever since that day, my mother never looked at me the same way. Over the years, she has done what I never thought possible of her to do. She rejected who I was. She denied the destiny that my cutie mark gave me. But there was one problem with that, you can't stop destiny and I wasn't about to llet her.


	2. The News

The News

7 Years Later

It was early in the morning in Canterlot. Celestia was just barely raising the sun, and ponies were starting to wake up. Well, most ponies. In a nearby mansion, home to Marionette, the CEO and founder of Everypony's Toys©, one mare still laid in bed, dreaming of roller skating carrots and the former president of Amareica.

"Why yes, Sir Carrotus, I would love to go skating with you and Abraham Lincolt on the moon." Her dreaming would have blissfully continued if not for a knocking at the door.

"Miss Rara, it time to wake up!" called the voice of one of the maids. Inside the dark room, a kind of groaning noise could be heard.

"Ugh, can't I just save my morning class for the afternoon? Only roosters should be up this early!"

"Sorry miss, but your mother insists you go to your morning classes." There was no response. "Miss?" Still no response. "Miss, Rara! Must we go through this routine every morning!?" there was a loud thud from inside the room along with a shuffling of blankets.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up! Enough yelling already." Rara groggily got off the floor and made her way to the light switch. "Ah! The brightness burns!" she exclaimed while falling in the floor clutching her eyes.

"Will you hurry along in there, your classes begin in half an hour," explained the maid, who was losing her patience.

"Thank you for the update!" Rara said sarcastically on her way to the bathroom. When she came out, her long, light green mane and tail were brushed and laid lazily on her tan fur. Her body was not always this boring color, it was once a light purple, but her mother had her dye it because it "clashed" too much with her mane. She went over to her closet and pulled out a pink, lace dress. She was required to wear it by Marionette, so the staff wouldn't see her cutie mark. She glanced around her room trying to soak in its abnormality before she had to leave it for the pastel halls.

If everything wasn't so coordinately placed, you'd think that it was designed by a blind pony. The walls were every color under the sun with each wall having a different design. The floor was made out of live grass and even a few animals lived under it. There was an electric blue chandelier made of rock candy hanging in midair and seemed to illuminate its own light. Her bed was literally made out of water, but could be slept in like any other bed. A rectangular full body mirror with no frame stood opposite of the bed, and balanced perfectly without support despite being so thin. Lastly, all of the surrounding furniture were made out of cookies.

Rara made her way to the door, but right before she opened it she remembered something. _Oh yeah, almost forgot_. She looked at her room and changed it into an ordinary bedroom that matched the rest of the plain house. She opened the door to see the maid waiting for her in the hall. "Morning."

"Good morning. Now, shall we go to your class?"

"No breakfast?"

"You'll just have to eat during your session. Your mother wishes you to finish your classes early today. She has very important news to give you."

"What kind of news?" Rara asked genuinely curious of what could be so important that she was let in on it.

"She didn't say." We walked in silence for a few minutes until we reached the "classroom", which was really just one of the extra bedrooms that was converted to have a school setting. "Well, here we are. Your teacher will be here in a few minutes. There should be a blueberry muffin and a cup of orange juice in your desk."

Rara walked through the door to her seat and began eating her breakfast. She looked around the room with a bored expression. _Why do I even have to take these business classes? I'm not meant to work in business and she knows it._ She was shaken from her thoughts by the opening and closing of the door.

"Hey, Wormy."

Miss Rara, we have gone over this. In the mornings you shall greet me by saying 'Good morning, Professor Bookworm'. No more, no less," said the stallion with an irritated look on his face.

"Okay, Wormy," she responded nonchalantly. "Oops, sorry your majesty, Professor Wormy." The stallion glared at her for a moment. This was their regular greeting. The two had gotten off on the wrong hoof when he…expressed his opinion on her imagination a few months prior.

"Let's just begin, shall we? Now, where did we leave off yesterday?"

"I don't know. Something about persuasion," she answered tiredly with her hoof on her chin.

"Ah yes! In business, persuasion is one of the most important assets. Without it, you would never…Miss Rara! Wake up!"

"Huh! What?!" she exclaimed, frantically looking around the room.

"I swear, how do you ever expect to take over your mother's company if you keep dozing off?"

"I don't because I'm not going to."

"You don't have a choice. Once your mother retires, you have to take the reins."

"That's not what my cutie mark says," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing."

"Right, well then, let's continue. Where was I? Oh yes. Without persuasion, you would never be able to get the most out of a contract. The key to persuasion is to make the other feel like they are getting more out of the contract than you. To practice this, I want you to persuade me." Rara was about to doze off once more, until she heard that last part.

"Into doing what?"

"Anything, just make something up. It should come naturally to you." _Anything huh?_

"Okay then. I want you to let me out of class," Rara stated with a challenging smile.

"And what if I don't feel like letting you leave?" he asked with a calm smirk.

"Are you saying that you want me to stay? And here I thought you hated me." Her expression changed to that of sarcastic happiness and shock.

"I do," he confirmed, his smirk fading.

"Then wouldn't you want me to leave so you don't have to endure me anymore?" By now, she had stolen his original smile and wore it proudly.

"Nothing would make me happier, but unfortunately I have a job to do."

"Mother wouldn't have to know."

"And if she asks me how your lessons went?"

"Lie."

"And if I get fired?"

"You'd like that wouldn't you? You would never have to see me again," Rara said slyly.

"I would get blacklisted."

"Not unless you quit first. Besides, mother has been thinking of firing you anyway."

"And why, may I ask, would she do that? I have been your teacher for the past six months and she has yet to complain about my teachings."

"You've seen my grades. She's starting to believe that you're too soft, that I need more discipline."

"Then maybe I should be even harder on you."

"If you think that will do any good, you're sadly mistaken. I'm not going to try no matter what because fate has something else in store for me. Just think about it, you're already going to get fired no matter what choice you make, its better to just quit before you get blacklisted. Besides, we aren't the richest family in Canterlot, you might even get paid more if you worked for some other family. The stallion glared at her for a few moments, then his frown changed to a smirk.

"You are free to go."

"Thank you." She trotted out the door and back towards her room. She was about to enter her room when a voice called out to her. It was the maid from earlier.

"Miss Rara, shouldn't you be at your class?"

"Professor Bookworm let me out early. His lesson today was short." The maid looked at her with uncertainty, not sure whether to believe her or not.

"Well, I suppose if that's the case you should see your mother right away."

"Okay." She followed the maid down to the living room.

"I shall go and fetch your mother. Don't leave this room." Just like that, the maid disappeared down another hall towards Marionette's study. Rara took this moment to lie down on the couch and rest her eyes. _I wonder what she could possibly think was so important that she had to tell me._ There was a creak and she looked up towards the door. Marionette walked in, followed by a maid, and went toward the chair opposite of her and sat down. A cup of tea floated beside her and a green aura encasing it.

"I would like to speak to my daughter alone," she announced to the maid. The maid curtsied and left the room, but not before bestowing a curious eye upon the green haired mare. "Professor Bookroom quit today."

"He did?" Rara wanted to cheer out loud. _I didn't think that guy was being serious! _Instead, she decided to act coy given the fact she unintentionally convinced him to quit. "Why?"

"He said that he felt under paid. I don't know why he didn't bring it up sooner if it was that big of an issue to him." Marionette looked at her straight in the eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know why he felt this way all of a sudden, would you?"

"No, I can't say I do," she lied.

"Rara don't lie to me. I know you do. This is the fourth teacher to quit this year!" Marionette's voice slowly grew with anger and her face became slightly flushed. Rara laid there watching her mother rant as she did every time she got somepony to quit, seemingly not caring that her mother was getting cross.

"I know! I was hoping to be past the fifth, maybe even sixth teacher by now." Marionette's face grew redder and without warning her tea cup exploded. Luckily, she had drank all the hot tea that was once inside it and, miraculously, none of the sharp glass shards hit them. She then gave an exasperated huff and began to clean the glass from the floor, coffee table, and chairs with her magic. Once all the glass shards were picked up and thrown away, she turned back to Rara who was holding a sign with a number six on it. "The explosion wasn't the best, but you definitely get points for presentation." Marionette gave her daughter an irritated look and Rara sheepishly made the sign revert back into a pillow.

She cleared her thought and began speaking again with a more calm tone, but clearly still angry. "Rara, you know how important it is that you take over the company."

"Actually, I don't," Rara said, getting as flustered as her mother was. "Why do I have to be the one to take control? In fact, I'm not the one who's supposed to do it!" She got up from the couch and moved the skirt of her dress to reveal her cutie mark. It was a purple and red plaid flame with thin, pink and green energy beams around it. All of the dye jobs throughout the years of repression had faded it. "You know that as well as I do," she said, her voice now lowered. A silence accompanied that statement. Tension filled the room as she waited for a response from Marionette. She waited, but it seemed her mother was speechless. Seeing that she wasn't about to get a response from her soon, she out the skirt back in its place and continued to wait. In the silence, a thought popped in her mind. "What was the important news you wanted to tell me?"

Marionette collected herself and looked back at her daughter. "I wanted to tell you that I will be attending the Grand Galloping Gala for business next month." Ant anger that was in Rara soon left once hearing the news and curiosity had taken its place.

"The Grand Galloping Gala?" she echoed, her eyes widening.

"Yes. I was considering taking you with me so you can learn how to negotiate, but clearly you're not mature enough to attend." At that moment, she stood up and began to walk back into th hall, leaving Rara to be the one for a loss of words.

_He will be there._ Rara shock her head and looked at the door her mother exited from. She galloped out the door after Marionette and yelled,"Hey! Wait!" She caught up to Marionette and stopped in front of her.

"No, you're not. A mature pony wouldn't have gotten a teacher to quit their job. Now, if you'll excuse me I have some work to get back to." She tried to walk towards her office once more, but Rara would not let her pass.

"Now hold on. I can be very mature…when I want to be."

"Rara, its settled. You are not going to the Gala." This time she had successfully managed her way around her.

Rara stood there watching her mother walk away when an idea hit her. A smirk sprawled across her face. "Okay! I guess ill stay here then. Just know that when you find the house missing when you return there is only one pony to blame!"

Marionette stopped in her tracks at the sound of the threat. She turned around and walked back to her awaiting daughter. "Why do you even want to go to the Gala? I said I was going for work and you clearly don't want anything to do with my profession. It's a place for business, not fun." She was very intrigued as to why her daughter would want to go by her own accord.

"I just want to go somewhere that isn't here. You hardly ever let me go outside, an my balcony isn't exactly a very social place. I just want to leave the house for a while, even if ill be surrounded by snooty rich people," she expressed honestly.

Marionette looked at her daughter. _Its true. I need to let her out more, but what if she does something and exposes herself. What will everypony think?...She needs to talk to people besides the help though. _As she was thinking, Rara got into begging position and made her eyes large and sad looking. _Oh no, not the puppy dog pout._ She let out a sigh and helped her daughter up. "Alright, you can go, but you are not to leave my sight. Also, I'm choosing what drees you wear." She watched as her daughter's eyes lit up with joy at her decision.

"Thank you, mother," she said with a smile. With that she trotted away allowing her mother to go to her office. Halfway down the hall her smile was replaced by a smirk. _I guess today's lesson was helpful after all._


End file.
